1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of storage racks for cylindrical articles, and in particular to a storage rack for confining a plurality of preferably-vertical stacks of the cylindrical articles, wherein the articles are disposed with parallel preferably-horizontal axes, the articles being accessible for loading at the top of the rack and unloading at the bottom of the rack. The articles are confined axially between movably-mounted vertical partitions and radially between a back plane of the rack and movably-mounted barrier panels.
2. Prior Art
Various devices are known wherein cylindrical articles are stored in a vertical chute while resting with their cylindrical axes aligned horizontally. The articles are disposed between structural members confining the cylindrical articles axially, and other structural members confining them radially such that the cylindrical articles rest against one another in a stack with parallel axes. Removing a lowest of the articles allows the others to roll downward to fill the space. Such an arrangement may involve a directly vertical chute for the cylindrical articles, or alternatively, the path of the articles may follow a sloping, zigzag or S-shaped tortuous track down which the cylinders roll. Typically, the structural members which axially confine the cylindrical articles are rigidly positioned such that only one size of cylindrical article is precisely accommodated. While it may be possible to accommodate axially-shorter cylindrical articles within a chute arranged for axially longer articles, the result is unsatisfactory. The structure as well as the appearance of the stack are not orderly. Identifying indicia such as labels on the articles do not align. Where the articles are spools or the like with material wound on a cylinder between radially protruding end flanges, the flanges of adjacent spools interfere with one another when the articles are permitted to become misaligned by lack of axial confinement sufficient to keep the flanges of one article in radial contact with the flanges of adjacent articles.
Cylindrical articles such as canned goods could be stacked with parallel horizontal axes in the foregoing manner such that the articles rest end-to-end between widely spaced partitions, a plurality of vertical stacks without intervening partitions thereby being maintained between the widely spaced partitions. Again, this is unsatisfactory due not only to the haphazard appearance of the stack, but also because when any portion of an article of a given vertical stack encroaches horizontally into the area of a neighboring stack, the vertical movement of the articles in both stacks is obstructed. Individual articles block neighboring articles and/or become inclined, producing jamming.
Chutes for feeding articles such as cylindrical cans are known, for example in vending machines. These chutes can be arranged with a slot defined between flanges extending from successive vertical partitions, allowing viewing of the contents of the chute between the flanges. Such chutes reliably feed the cylindrical articles (e.g., soft drink cans or bottles) only when the articles are axially confined between the successive partitions. The articles can be aligned such that either their sides or ends show through the slot.
There is a need to store common household canned goods in separate vertical stacks of the present type while keeping them sorted and accessible. When the stacks are aligned vertically, the canned good contents of a pantry are readily visible for inventory control, and the stacked display enables locating and extracting particular canned goods for use. The problem for canned goods, however, becomes quite complicated due to the very substantial variation in dimensions of the canned goods. While the cans are mostly cylindrical, their sizes vary both axially and diametrically by a great deal. If a canned good storage rack is configured for a certain size of can or even a range of can sizes, the rack is not useful for other can sizes or ranges, except with great waste of space, or with severe detraction of the free motion of the cans in the stack.
If too much axial space is allowed between partitions for the individual cans, then they do not remain aligned to roll against one another sufficiently to keep their axes horizontal. If too much radial space is permitted, the articles bind with one another in the chute to prevent extraction of a selected one. Where a great deal of space remains in the chute, the motion which results from extracting a lowermost article may damage upper articles as they fall back and forth into a new stable position. For all these reasons, it is not readily possible to arrange a can storage rack that will at the same time allow a variety of different dimensions to be closely accommodated, and also permit the user to vary the distribution of articles with different axial and radial dimensions for the user's personal requirements.